The invention relates to seagoing and rivergoing boats and concerns a helm for controlling the rudder of a boat.
Some seagoing and rivergoing boats, in particular pleasure boats, are equipped with a helm taking the form of a column on which a wheel is mounted and turns. The wheel is intended to be operated by the helmsman, that is to say the person responsible for steering the boat, in the manner of a steering wheel.
The wheel is connected to the rudder of the boat by a transmission mechanism so that rotation of the wheel moves the rudder.
Given the force necessary to operate the rudder under water, the wheel generally has a large diameter (of the order of one meter), so that the helmsman has the benefit of the lever effect of the large wheel about its axis.
In practice, the helm is generally installed in an aft portion of the boat, such as the cockpit, provided with seats and/or intended for persons to pass through.
The helm is additionally installed therein transversely to the lengthwise direction of the boat, this arrangement being necessary so that the helmsman, when facing the wheel, is facing in the same direction as that in which the boat is moving forward.
Large diameter helms disposed transversely have a large overall size. Their overall size is particularly problematic when the boat is at rest, since the helm is no longer in use, and the movement of persons is increased, whether for embarking or disembarking passengers from the aft when stationary in port or circulation of passengers between the forward and aft ends of the boat when in motion.
Helms adapted to have their overall size minimized when the boat is stationary are known in the art, in particular helms in which the wheel is in three parts that can be folded. It appears that helms have also been proposed in which the heel is an assembly of removable angular sectors which can be superposed in the manner of a fan.
Although the above devices succeed in reducing the overall size of the helm, their great mechanical complexity makes them unreliable and difficult to manipulate.
The object of the invention is to improve existing helms, in particular by providing a simple way to reduce their overall size significantly without compromising the functions or the safety of the wheel in the service position.
To this end, and in a first aspect, the invention proposes a helm for controlling the rudder of a boat, and including:
a base on top of which is an elongate column extending along an axis,
a wheel mounted to turn on an upper part of the column about a transverse axis, and
rudder control means,
which helm is characterized in that it further includes means for neutralizing the rudder control means and in that at least an upper part of the column is mounted to rotate relative to the base about its axis to assume a service position in which said neutralization means are deactivated and at least one rest position in which the wheel is offset angularly by at least approximately a quarter-turn relative to the service position and said neutralization means are activated.
The above kind of helm, in which the column is angularly mobile, means that the plane containing the wheel can assume different angular positions. As appropriate to the arrangement of the boat, the rest position in particular enables the wheel to be disposed parallel to the path of circulation of passengers, at the same time neutralizing the means controlling the rudder. Moving passengers therefore have to move along the wheel in the rest position, rather than circumvent it.
On the other hand, when the helm is in the service position, the rudder control means are operational and the helm looks just like a conventional helm, with no visible means of minimizing its overall size.
Moreover, the only moving parts seen from the outside of the helm are the base and the column, which turn one relative to the other. This arrangement, which is very simple to use, does not bring the user into contact with complex mechanical parts that could represent a hazard to his safety, and also is highly reliable.
To render the maneuver required of the user even simpler, said neutralization means can be controlled by the rotation of the column relative to the base.
Accordingly, when the column is pivoted to reduce its overall size, the same pivoting movement advantageously activates means for neutralizing the rudder control means, and conversely deactivates those means.
Thus a single movement of the helm is all that is necessary to change from the service position to the rest position, at the same time activating the neutralization means, or vice versa.
In one embodiment, the rudder control means are permanently interengaged with the wheel and the neutralization means include means for preventing rotation of the wheel about its transverse axis.
The effective immobilization of the rudder by immobilizing all of the transmission system between the wheel and the rudder is guaranteed by the means for preventing rotation of the wheel, which are simple to install on the above kind of helm, since the rudder control means are permanently engaged.
The means for preventing rotation of the wheel can include a toothed portion fastened to the wheel and a detent fastened to the base and disposed to come up against said toothed portion, thereby immobilizing it, when the column is in the rest position.
Thus the wheel is immobilized by a detent/toothed portion combination whose movement into mutual contact or separation is indexed to the rotation movement of the column relative to the base.
This achieves automatic and reliable immobilization of the wheel when the helm is moved to the rest position.
Alternatively, the neutralization means can include means for immobilizing a member interengaged with the rudder control means.
In this case it is a question of immobilizing a member interengaged with the rudder, independently of the transmission members situated between the wheel and said member, which makes it possible to implement the immobilization means on the transmission member most suitable for the chosen arrangement of the rudder control means.
To this end the rudder control means can include a column shaft mounted to turn in the column and driven in rotation by the wheel and said immobilization means can include a disk fastened to said column shaft.
This embodiment of the rudder control means lends itself well to the use of a disk adapted to be immobilized by means external to the transmission system.
To immobilize the disk relative to stopping means attached to the base, said disk can form a cam adapted to exert a force on the stopping means when the column is in the rest position.
The cam surface formed by the disk is adapted to move toward said stopping means as the column rotates toward the rest position, until contact occurs and the two members are finally immobilized one against the other, the cam effect being achieved laterally or axially.
This device is extremely simple since it does not use any moving part operating on the disk.
Alternatively, said immobilization means can further include brake calipers embracing the disk and adapted to immobilize it, the disk being coaxial with the column shaft in this case.
The brake calipers provide great freedom to the designer in regard to how they are activated, and they can be activated by the rotation of the column or activated autonomously.
The helm advantageously further includes a device for preventing rotation of the column, which is useful in the service position in particular.
This device prevents unwanted rotation of the column, the helm being retained in the required position despite external loads.
The device for preventing rotation of the column can include an at least partly annular slide attached to the base and a radially retractable finger on the column and cooperating with the slide, which can include a first housing adapted to receive the finger when the column is in the service position and a second housing adapted to receive the finger when the column is in the rest position.
A device of the above kind for preventing rotation of the column is not only effective in preventing rotation of the column but also assists the user by clearly indicating the rest and service positions.
A first embodiment of the rudder control means includes:
a first ring coaxial with and attached to the shaft of the wheel,
a second ring mounted to turn about a transverse axis, fixed with respect to the column or the base,
flexible transmission means connecting the first and second rings, and
transmission means connecting the second ring to the rudder.
This is transmission by belt and flexible links, such as a chain, light and economical.
A second embodiment of the rudder control means includes:
a hydraulic pump attached to the column and operated by rotation of the shaft of the wheel,
a hydraulic rudder actuator connected to said pump, and
a valve in the hydraulic circuit between the pump and the actuator, adapted to close the circuit and actuated by rotation of the upper part of the column so that the valve is open when the column is in the service position and the valve is closed when the column is in the rest position.
This solution has the advantage of simplicity: a hydraulic pump connected by two pipes to a piston and cylinder constitute the rudder control means.
Furthermore, the principle of the valve being actuated directly by the rotation of the column is rugged and simple.
The same advantages can be obtained with a third embodiment of the rudder control means which includes:
a column shaft attached at a first end to a transverse lever and at a second end to a first bevel gear coaxial with said shaft,
a second bevel gear attached to the shaft of the wheel, coaxial therewith, and disposed to mesh with the first bevel gear to form a concurrent axis gear, and
transmission means connecting the transverse lever to the rudder.
In a second aspect, the invention proposes a boat including a cockpit equipped with a pivoting helm as previously defined, the column being disposed perpendicularly to the deck of the cockpit.
Moreover, the base can be fixed to the deck of the cockpit so that the wheel is transverse to the general direction of the boat when the column is in the service position and the angular offset terminating in the rest position can be a quarter-turn so that, in the rest position, the wheel is parallel to the general direction of the boat. A half-turn angular offset may also be advantageous for increasing the volume available for circulation in the cockpit.